A Bay of Blood (1971)

DVD/Video title: Bay of Blood. This was a tough call, but I only gave this a 5. I love horror movies and I love explicit gore but... The film is well-directed by Mario Bava and has a beautiful score. Also the murders are suspenseful and (occasionally) very gory. But there's a boring plot and LOTS of padding (a girl goes skinny-dipping for no reason; lots of shots of people walking down paths, through houses, through rooms, etc etc etc.) which adds nothing to the film. Basically it just bides the time between murders. Also the dubbing is atrocious and the acting ranges from OK to unbelievably bad. I need a plot or some good acting to go with the gore--this doesn't have either. Also Bava once referred to this film as "a piece of s***". What does that tell you? Still, it's historically important as the first slasher/body count film. But what a let-down!

Fmovies: Eat your heart out, Jason Vorhees! Mario Bava's wicked slasher fantasies predate your Friday the 13th escapades by almost a decade. And 'the Bay' is a much more efficient location than your pathetic Crystal Lake, I may add. Mario Bava is my favorite director of all time for multiple reasons. The most important one is that he's such a diverse storyteller. He brought us tense, atmospheric horror (Black Sunday) as well as colorful kitsch (Danger: Diabolik). This Bay of Blood is something completely different yet again. Twitch of the Death Nerve (another a.k.a of this film) is a blood-soaked satire, portraying 13 of the most stylish massacres ever shot on tape. The local countess of the bay-community is brutally slain by her husband. Then he himself is butchered by a mysterious third person. What follows is an irresistible search for the killer in which greed and ruthlessness overrule the more normal human emotions. Okay, the plot may not be very solid (which is an often heard reproach regarding Bava's work) but as a social satire, Bay of Blood is very effective. 'Everyone's a killer when money and power are involved', Bava seems to shout out. The humor is oppressed, but it's definitely present throughout the whole filmÂ…if you don't see that, I pity you because the film's power depends on it. And then there's the gore! Needless to say this movie is light-years ahead of its time when it comes to showing explicit violence and detailed gore. The killer's hatchet plants itself in victim's heads and throats vulgarly while the camera seems to zoom in on the corpses endlessly. And then STILL this is an utterly stylish horror film. Only Bava can shoot filth on tape and make it look like art! The cast isn't very memorable, but who cares?? They die anyway so you don't need to pick favorites! Only main actress Claudine Auger impressed me, but I think that had more to do with her beautiful appearance. See Bay of Blood for the gore! See Bay of Blood for its importance as it was one of the most influential films in the genre! See Bay of Blood, period. I hate to sound pretentious butÂ…if you don't like this film, you haven't got the slightest idea what the horror industry is all about. That statement goes for Bava's entire repertoire, by the way.

You don't go to a Mario Bava picture expecting an Antonioni picture or a Fellini picture. Bava does exactly what it says on the tin and what it says on the tin here is "A Bay of Blood" so basically you know what you're likely to get and what you're letting yourself in for but Bava is as much an auteur as any Italian maestro and the killing that opens this film proves it. Working almost exclusively within the genre of the horror picture Bava was, above all, a great visual stylist, (as well as directing "A Bay of Blood" he was also the DoP), and unlike most films that might be termed slashers this could almost be called art, albeit of a very kitsch kind.

Budget-wise Bava had to achieve his effects with very little, other than sheer imagination. "A Bay of Blood" may be a fairly basic giallo in terms of plot but it is also creepy and clever and thankfully tongue-in-cheek, (with a laugh-out-loud pay-off), and Bava knew that by including a few 'cult' names in his cast, (Isa Miranda, Laura Betti), he could draw in the cineastes. It may not be in the same class as some of his better known works but it's still worth seeking out.

A Bay of Blood fmovies. "Bay of Blood" is the (complicated) story of a countess being murdered by her husband, and then the husband is murdered by an unseen attacker. Soon, a killer begins stalking people in the bay area, but are the murders just random or is there a purpose for all the carnage? First off, this movie was pretty confusing. It wasn't until the end that I fully understood what was going on. However, the setting is beautifully eerie and the film has several peaceful shots of the bay at sunset (Usually after a grisly murder). I do love this film's style and the direction by Mario Bava make this an above-average horror film. Check it out.

Not Rated: contains Violence, Gore, and Nudity.

Grade: B

I must be missing something here because I found it rather dull, it's obviously held in high regard by the horror crowd because it's a benchmark of sorts, and certainly this is where Friday the 13th (1980) got it's idea from, but to me it just came across as an uncohesive mess. The acting obviously isn't of a great standard, but that is what the viewer expects for this particular strand of the genre, but they seem to be confused about how to play out their respective roles. The grizzly deaths are handled efficiently by director Mario Bava and they keep the film from drifting into unwatchable territory, and in fairness the ending does have a nice cheeky slant it, but all in all it's not one to reckie to others with confidence, or for me to ever rewatch again, 5/10

A handicapped and wealthy countess, who owns the lands of a disputed bay, is hanged by her husband and he is immediately killed. The crime scene is forged to simulate a suicide of the old woman. Later, two young couples are murdered in the bay. The inheritors of the fortune of the countess want the possession of the place and kill each other, in a bloodshed bath in the area.

"Reazione a Catena" is a gory slash movie with a different characteristic: there is no serial killer, but almost a chain reaction of murders. The deaths are motivated by the greed of different persons, and their motives are based on the interest of the civil construction in the ecological area, and the reluctance of the elder countess in selling her property. None of the character is innocent, except the two young couples that arrive in wrong the place for fun. The camera, with many closes and movements, is quite different. The black humor is very sharp; most of the deaths are very original and the conclusion is silly. The copy of the Brazilian VHS is a little dark, but it is watchable. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Banho de Sangue" ("Blood Bath")

Note: On 06 July 2009, I saw this movie again on DVD.